ASSISTANT COACH SHUFFLE

Alabama OC looking for a head coaching job
At least two schools interest Jim McElwain, who has done a fine job at Alabama. The best bet right now appears to be San Jose State.

If McElwain is hired by the Spartans, UA coach Nick Saban would be in search of his third offensive coordinator since arriving at UA in 2007. The potential hire would also make for an interesting twist to the Crimson Tide’s season-opening game against San Jose State to begin the 2010 season.

McElwain has also expressed interest in the head coaching vacancy at Marshall, according to a report by the Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail.

This looks like someone who's not going to be around very long one way or another. If you're the offensive coordinator for a team that has two straight 12-0 regular seasons and a chance at a national championship at a school where the head coach is known as a defensive guy, you're going to get some job buzz, especially after your running back wins the Heisman with no preseason attention.

So even if Alabama can keep McElwain for another season -- which looks dubious -- it will only be until he's hired by some other school later or there's a collapse in the team's offense.

A Petrino leaving one school to join the Zooker. There are too many jokes to fit in one post.
Paul Petrino will become offensive coordinator at Illinois, where he will help the point-scoring part of the team become better and better. I could go for like an hour on this one.

Torbush and Hudspeth might be leaving Mississippi State
DC Carl Torbush appears to be headed to join new coach Turner Gill at Kansas (more on that in just a moment) and assistant Mark Hudspeth could be going to Louisiana-Monroe. Why anyone would go to Monroe, La., to coach football is beyond me, though if NCAA sanctions hold up Alabama hasn't defeated ULM in their last two games against each other.

South Carolina's Wolford to lead the mighty -- Penguins?
Eric Wolford has all but officially left Columbia.

Wolford, South Carolina’s offensive line coach, has been offered the head coaching position at Youngstown State and is expected to accept it, sources close to the USC program said late Sunday night.

Wolford had mixed success at South Carolina. He certainly improved the line dramatically in one year, but not enough to make the Gamecocks an elite or even average team in rushing offense and sacks allowed. (Last and 11th, respectively, including allowing more than 2.8 sacks per game.)

Could South Carolina try to raid Vanderbilt's ranks in response?
Gamecock Man certainly thinks so.

As far as our next line coach goes, I expect you'll see us make another push for Vanderbilt's Robbie Caldwell. Caldwell -- as we know -- is one of the best line coaches around. He's a guy that consistently has good lines at Vanderbilt despite having to play with very few athletes that elite SEC schools would ever consider giving scholarships to. Caldwell, though, has close ties to Vandy coach Bobby Johnson. He's rebuffed us before, so we're going to have to do some convincing to get him to Columbia. ...

Recruiting, on the other hand, I'm a little worried about.

That's really the fix here for South Carolina. You can find a good offensive line coach, but unless you find a truly great one, he has to have some high-level recruits to build a good line. Time is of the essence.

Georgia defensive coordinator -- Romeo Crennel?
The idea isn't completely meritless, but Crennel strikes me as an NFL if he's still employable at that level. Given the fact that NFL teams look at horrible head coaches as "grade-A coordinator material," that might not be true yet. But stranger things have happened.

OTHER NEWS

Statistical proof that Auburn-Northwestern for the Outback Bowl was a bad idea
Of course, you already knew that matching the Tigers and the Wildcats in Tampa was not a great game, but now we have the numbers to prove it. The Outback Bowl is ranked the "biggest underachiever" by Crimson and Cream Machine, which ranked the games according to FEI and Z and some other letters that are almost beyond the capacity of a humble journalist to understand.

The Capital One Bowl between LSU and Penn State is the only non-BCS game seen as "elite," while Florida-Cincinnati is actually supposed to be the best game of them all. Above average: South Carolina-UConn, Ole Miss-Oklahoma State and Tennessee-Virginia Tech. Below average: Kentucky-Clemson, Auburn-Northwestern, Arkansas-East Carolina and Georgia-Texas A&M. The worst game of them all is the New Mexico Bowl.

Is a vote of confidence still dreaded if the school is Vanderbilt?
Bobby Johnson gets an endorsement from vice chancellor David Williams.

"Bobby is our head coach and he'll be our head coach," Williams said. "Bobby basically will go and do his evaluation of his team and coaching staff. I wouldn't ever think about going in and saying you've got to do this and you've got to do that. We're still very, very happy with Bobby. It wasn't the season we wanted. It wasn't the season he wanted. I think we'll see a better season next year."

Or else?

If you've got 500 bucks
You could share a dinner with Ingram and other Heisman winners. After he does Good Morning America and David Letterman.

Let's throw him a parade
Some Flintians(?) -- those from Ingram's hometown of Flint, Mich. -- want to throw him a parade for winning the Heisman. (HT: Roll Bama Roll)

Auburn is now officially off the hook
Turner Gill will take over the Kansas Jayhawks.

Is Turner Gill the "homerun" hire that many wanted? Maybe not, but he does provide a coach who has shown some signs of success at one of the more difficult programs to win at in the country.

Some have made a big deal out of the fact that Gill had just one winning season in four years at Buffalo. (Then there's this. HT: Wiz) But others will point out "Gill had ... one winning season ... at Buffalo" as reason enough to give him a better chance elsewhere.